Sunday, 18 August 2013

Randy Me 12/13

12 Okay, back up a little bit, in case you missed it, Trisha was fifty per cent of the reason why I left Lagos in the first instance. The other half was Sonia. And there she was, smiling at me; ever so sweetly, my welcoming party. I paused for a few seconds before approaching her. ‘Hello,’ it was the most natural thing to say. She tried to hug me, but I stepped back. ‘What are you doing here?’ My face was expressionless. ‘I have missed you,’ she explained, approaching me. ‘Besides, we need to talk. There’s an issue that needs your attention.’ A dark scowl came over my face. Issue, what issue? Then it occured to me, issue, pregnancy; but she was not the pregnant party, there was no bulge and she was sexy as ever, my little man had started noticing things and was fixing for a salute. ‘What are you trying to pin on me?’ My eyebrows were arched and I kept my cool. ‘Nothing you didn’t get yourself in initially. You pinned yourself.’ She shook her head sadly, ‘and I thought that maybe you could be the one. The one that I finally made mine, but like the others, you went behind my back and slept with my closest friend.’ I smiled. ‘So that’s what this is about?’ I didn’t see the slap, her visage did not change yet the delivery was perfect and the sting made me reel. I glared at her. ‘Just because I allowed you carry out my fetish, you thought you had access to her body too? All those nights, all the while when I was craving for you…, and then you left town unceremoniously; did you think, I would not find out?’ I was stumped. I just kept glaring at her. The slap still stung. Damn, I never knew Trisha packed such punch. Her features softened and she smiled. ‘This is a friendly warning, leave town and never come back; I may overlook what you did. Stay, and you will understand the true meaning of hell.’ She pushed past me and left me standing there wondering how on God’s earth she had known I was arriving back in Lagos. I stood outside my door for almost ten minutes contemplating going to a hotel to sleep. Finally, I braved it, and put the key in the lock, turned the key, the door opened easily and I stepped in. I was finally home. *************************** For the first month, I was a fugitive in my own home. Running from and evading an unseen enemy. I kept in touch with Kemi and I made sure we spoke for half an hour at least. I didn’t understand why, but something would not allow me let her go. After one month of playing hide and seek with my imagination, I decided that both girls – Sonia and Trisha – would have to show up and kill me. I was tired of running, so I started living again. At work I had asked that Jane take over completely Sonia’s account, she did not object. I was doing my level best to adapt back to Lagos, but was finding it hard. Work was the only thing that made sense, my house looked bare, everything had lost it colour. And to top it all, there was Trisha’s looming threat. I was a walking corpse in the city I had once ruled, a ticking bomb, ready to self-destruct. Then a couple of notable events happened that showed me the error of my ways. I am a creature of habit; so normally, I followed a set pattern, thus you could monitor me to the minute. But since Trisha’s showing, I had been doing things out of the blue, just going with the moment. So I could evade her imaginary assassins. It was on one of my manoeuvres, that I turned into a shopping mall to window shop and said to myself if anything really caught my fancy… then I could persuade myself to buy. I had been window shopping for almost ten minutes when it happened. ‘Akin,’ is that you? I paused briefly, there must be a lot of Akins in the mall I surmised, I started walking. ‘Akin!’ the voice had urgency to it. It was insistent. I stopped, and turned around. In retrospect, I should just have kept walking, pretending I never heard. There, standing a perfect smile on her face was Imole. She was as beautiful as ever and I felt stirrings in my loins. Then she started walking towards me and I swear, the lights in the mall became dim and slowly, Ne-Yo’s ‘Do You’ started playing in the background. I stood there watching her come, to me. Then she got to me, stretched out her hand and said, ‘hi, it’s been a really long while’ The song stopped abruptly and I realised it had been playing in my head. The lights were back to been bright and sparkly. ‘Yeah,’ I said. Feeling stupid and unsure what to say. So I asked what came to mind next. ‘So how are the kids and the husband?’ It was a question I should not have asked for she smiled bitterly. Then she launched into a tirade of how unfortunate things had been for her. After a while, I found us seats and we sat there sharing our tales of woes. The dude she left me for was already married with kids. He had done it to become a citizen, secure a better life for himself. He only told her the truth when she started planning their honeymoon and was prepared to go back with him to the States. When she finished her sad tale, she looked me in the eyes then said, ‘I’ve never had a lover like you, you were my very best.’ That got to me, my head swollen, my pride stroked and there was the little matter of a saluting soldier. I cannot say how it happened, but I invited her back to my place and she accepted. One thing led to another and like old times, we were rediscovering new places, becoming one and it felt good. Then Imole looked me in the eyes and whispered softly ‘I love you.’ I paused momentarily, my hands on her bare chest. ‘What did you just say?’ My voice was husky, overriden with passion. ‘I love you.’ She said defiant. I rolled away from her shaking my head. ‘No, no, no!’ I corrected her. ‘You do not love me, matter of fact when I think of it, you didn’t back then, and nope, you definitely do not love me now.’ I was looking for my jeans at this point, thankful we hadn’t done the deed when she jarred me backed to reality. Then I remembered Kemi, and I hated the man I had become. I would have just slept with Imole without recourse… ‘You have to leave now.’ My voice was stern. She understood, slowly got dressed and walked out of my apartment and life for the second time. The first time, she had the power, and I was a basket of tears. Now, I sat there watching, unmoved as she sent subliminal messages to me. It was over between us, and I had just realized it. I went into the kitchen and fixed myself a glass of juice. I was berating myself for being weak, not the kind of man Kemi deserved. I drank up the contents and smashed the glass. Something had snapped in me. Either the gods released me or like Kratos, I would bring hell to them… 13 After the whole Imole drama, I realized that I had it in me to say no, and move on. That I had been pining and waiting for her to show up again in my life so I could end things once and for all. I got a burst of courage after asking her to leave my apartment, and it propelled me. So, I did its bidding. Buoyed by the release I got from settling things with Imole, I went in search of Trisha. Her looming threat acknowledged, I wanted out of her game completely. I found her at home, it was a bright Saturday afternoon. And I was ready for any eventuality. She smiled upon seeing me. ‘I knew you’d come around, see things my way.’ I shook my head with distate. ‘You are still living in your fools paradise? I didn’t come here to grovel or beg, no. I came here to tell you that I have had enough. Enough of this game you… you are playing with me. I want out.’ She sat there on her sofa, smiling sweetly at me. ‘I’ve told you honey, the only way out of this game is if you leave town, vanish from the face of the earth. Or die.’ She was still smiling. ‘Otherwise, come here, lemme massage your stressed out muscles, it’ll be like old days, you rub my back, I rub yours and we do a lot of other things…’ she winked. I stood there stupefied, Imole had been an easy adversary to conquer, it was almost three years. Trisha on the other hand was my immediate past. A familiar evil. I realised then that I was not in any way prepared to take her on; and that too, in her lair. She stretched her hands towards me as she stood. ‘Come darling, did you think I was calling you ‘sugar’ for nought?’ She shook her head making sounds with her tongue as she traced a finger on my shoulder and walked behind me. Her hand started to fall down my spine, tingling my bones as it went. I caught the hand at my waist and turned to face her. I did not realise I had it in me to be that serious, my face was expressionless and hard. ‘Sugar!’ She teased and brought her head forward, ready to kiss me. I put up my right hand as a wedge between our lips and pushed her away. ‘I want out!’ ‘Sugar, you still don’t get it do you? You cannot have all the fun as you wanted, run out of town, to evade us, and finally come back demanding your life back. No! See, the way I see it, you’ve had your fun, now is the time for us to enjoy you. And you do know how to pleasure a woman…’ she was stroking my face again, seducing me. I caught her hand and threw it away. ‘No. The way I see it, we all had fun whilst it lasted and now that a party is unwilling to continue, I guess it’s game over. I’ll even concede defeat to you ladies. You taught me a good lesson.’ The smile had not left her face, she shook her head slowly and pursed her lips. ‘You really thought I enjoyed sharing you? I wanted you every night, but you were always away, busy with her.’ She suddenly grabbed my polo shirt by the neck with both hands. ‘The only reason, the only way I am ever letting you go, is if you do what you did to Sonia to me.’ I was about snapping her hands off my shirt when I stopped, frozen in flight. ‘Sonia? What the hell did I do to Sonia?’ Rage was welling up in me. She felt the negative vibes coursing through my body and stepped back, releasing my shirt. ‘You impregnated her.’ She said it in such a nonchalant manner, it was almost unbelievable. I was stupefied and started laughing in a delirious manner. ‘That’s a bad joke, and you know it.’ My face had regained its hardness, this time, I was snarling. Her eye brow arched. ‘It is hardly a joke, she just delivered a cute girl who looks totally like you. You got her pregnant, where her first husband could not, and you say I’m joking?’ It was her turn to glare. It was too much to take. I had sired a daughter? Through Sonia? And now Trisha wanted her exact pound of flesh; who could blame her. Finally I found a seat. I had arrived in hell I thought. Trisha was not having any of my emotional drama, she wanted a child too, preferably a boy. And she wanted me to start working on the bundle of joy right then. She sat astride me on the sofa, her soft perfume taking over my senses, her soft breasts screaming for attention. Then she kissed me. It was hot, rough and passionate. I was a train wreck and she was taking advantage of me. Suffice to say, little me had started a parade and was dishing out all sort of commands. It was like old times, I was rediscovering places I had pushed into the recesses of my mind. We were getting steamy on the sofa, I could tell she wanted this as badly as it now happened that I did too. Then my timer went off. I can’t say I read it anywhere or that it was inspired from heaven. All I knew was that I needed a plan B, in case things didn’t go the way I wanted. So I set my timer for twenty minutes before entering her apartment. I was ready to speed dial Tolu and the gang if need be. What I didn’t prepare for was the news, and her seduction. I pushed her away. ‘I can’t do this. No, there’s no way I impregnated Sonia, no way!’ I stood away from her, still desiring her, but I willed my mind to remember. Remember if I was a father truly. She stood up slowly, her hair was a mess, her shirt had slackened in the front and her breasts fought to be completely free of her bra. Yes, it hadn’t taken more than two minutes, but like a true maestro, I had played her keys. She looked at me and shook her head bitterly. ‘If you will not give me what I want, then, you would do well to die today. I will follow you to the ends of the earth, if need be. You have just been bound to me.’ The look on her face changed to distate, ‘now, get out of my house!’ I did not need any prodding, I left the apartment with a very angry little man who decided to defy me by continuing his parade. I got in my car, and started driving towards any bar on the Island. See, the ladies lived in Lekki, and I was almost at Victoria Island when it hit me. I hadn’t seen Sonia or her baby, my child. I turned around and placed a call to Sonia. Yes, I should have deleted their numbers, but I wouldn’t know which calls to ignore, so I left both contacts. I learned it was a wise choice. She answered the call, unfortunately her kid had developed something, and whilst she explained it to me, my paternal instincts became activated. She gave me the name of the hospital and I drove like a man chased by the devil himself. I got to the hospital in record time, parked anyhow and ran like a man possessed into the reception. That was where the nurses brought me back to earth. We argued for a while, I told them my daughter was dying and I needed to see her. The older nurse snorted, her eye brow raised, ‘the child’s not in danger of death. It’s just cold.’ Then she ordered the younger nurse to take me to the ward. The last thing I noticed her do before disappearing after the younger nurse into the wards was shake her head in disbelief, clap her hand and say words I was too far to pick up. I was shown the ward, Sonia was slowly rocking the cradle the child slept in. I walked in cautiously and she largely ignored me, though she knew I was in the room. I turned around to have a good look at the baby. In the heat of the moment, I had claimed it as mine, and somewhere deep down, I knew I was not the architect of this life that nestled in the cradle; enjoying it’s life. Trisha was correct, the kid had my features, or was I desperate for it to be true? To know that I was a father? ‘Hi,’ I finally said and before she could either respond or ignore me completely, the doctor backed into the room. ‘Okay, so from the scan results we have been able to…’ that was how far she got before she stopped in her tracks, frozen and surprised to see me there. I was already staring at her like a fool. I could not believe my eyes, life was playing a cruel joke on me and the gods must be falling over themselves with laughter at the look on our faces. She recovered first and made to continue her speech as she walked further into the room. ‘You, you are a doctor?’ I stammered. She smiled, ‘obviously honey, and if you will excuse me, I’d like to help your ailing daughter.’ Something snapped then, ‘no! The child is not mine, and no, this is not my wife.’ I was still stupefied to see her. She shrugged just as she had done when she announced to me that she was married, that I had been her accomplice in adultery. I could not believe my eyes, but standing in front of me, in a doctor’s overall was Mrs Abisogun Leigh.

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